Island Hop
by Spirals95
Summary: #4 of the Techorse series.  Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, and Pinkie Pie go on a vacation to Zecora's homeland.  Many of the zebras there have dropped rhyming language in favor of normal speech.  What will the ponies think of this?


Note: This story uses custom created characters for the purpose of plot devices. If you're unsure as to who the new characters are, consult Appendix A at the end of the last part of my fan novel: "Techorse". It contains spoilers on the new characters present in my short story series. If you'd like to read the entire novel instead, feel free to do so.

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><p>Island Hop<p>

Techorse series: #4

By Spirals95

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><p>"We're finally going to get some rest and relaxation." sighed Rarity as the ship started to approach the island, "and this breeze feels great in my hair." Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had left on a ship for a vacation. The four had planned on it for a long time, and received a discount through a friend. The island was inhabited by Zecora's people, a grand society of zebras, and since they had contact with the mainland only through a handful of zebras living there, they issued discount resort stays to any pony who knew a zebra. As a result, the four were getting a chance to spend a week in tropical paradise. The others would have come too, but Applejack had work, Fluttershy wanted to stay to take care of everybody's houseplants and pets, and Techorse had been on the edge of beginning to sell a new invention he was working on. The small yacht had made the voyage with the four friends from a shore many miles from Ponyville, and the ride out to the island took six hours on average. They had been traveling since early in the morning. But all the hassle to get out was going to pay off. They were going on a trip that they were sure they were going to enjoy.<p>

"Just look at the island!" squealed Pinkie Pie as she jumped up and down, "So many beaches, so many jungles, this is going to be fun!"

"Careful Pinkie Pie, don't fall overboard again." warned Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle was sitting on a deck chair on board the ship and leafed through a brochure about the island.

"It says here." She said, "That there are over 500 different activities to do on the island. We'd better start planning what we'd like to do."

Rainbow Dash complained, "Does everything have to be by the book? Can't we just have some fun and forget about things for once, Twilight?"

Twilight giggled and said, "I guess not, but if you waste all your time in one spot and miss something, don't blame me."

"What are we going to do first after we get to the cabin?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Actually Pinkie Pie, remember, Techorse upgraded us to a hotel stay on him." reminded Rarity as she swished her curly blue-purple hair, "That was nice of him. We'll not be bitten by bugs on this trip."

Pinkie Pie scoffed, "I don't care about that! What are we going to do so our brains don't fall out from boredom?"

Twilight suggested, "Well, there's a jungle tour leaving in thirty minutes after we dock. It'll be a chance to see the tropical wildlife."

Rainbow Dash exhaled sharply and said, "Boring. I'm going to the Pegasus pony paragliding extreme sports center! I'll be out over the ocean, soaring above the rest of 'em, without even having to flap my wings!"

Rarity said, "While you're out getting yourself injured, Rainbow Dash, I'll be checking out the fabulous spas on the resort. The first trip is free with the room, girls, don't forget that." Pinkie Pie kept looking at the island, she didn't read anything about the activities, so she was unsure about what she was going to do.

"What to do?" she thought out loud.

"There is a sugarcane farm on the island, Pinkie." reminded Twilight as she passed the brochure using magic to her friend.

"What's sugarcane?" she asked as she stared at the picture.

"It's the plant they make table sugar from. All that white processed sugar in your kitchen is made from these plants."

Pinkie Pie said slowly, "Sugarcane. Sounds tasty!" Twilight knew Pinkie Pie was going to get herself sick, and sort of regretted mentioning the sugarcane plantation.

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><p>The ship soon pulled into the docks, and the crew threw ropes around the bulkhead to secure the vessel in place. The four friends along with the other passengers of the ship disembarked and stood on the docks in the warm sunshine of the tropical sky.<p>

"Oh it's so warm." said Rarity in great comfort. They were approached by a zebra wearing a sports cap.

"Welcome to Quagga island ponies, you must be Zecora's contacts."

"Hey, how come you don't talk in rhyme like Zecora?" questioned Pinkie Pie.

The zebra laughed and said in his near Jamaican accent, "There are two tribes of zebra on Quagga mon, mine doesn't speak in rhyme. Zecora's tribe lives mostly on the other half of da island. The name's Rocky by the way. I'm here to take you to the resort." They followed Rocky to a station where tourists were being shuttled to their hotels by train. Eventually, it was their turn, and the friends were onboard the air-condition cars.

From there it took about an hour for the steam train to reach the resort complex. It was a somewhat large building as it was twelve floors high and thirty rooms across. The resort was painted a lovely light yellow color, to match the sand of the beach in front of it. The ocean stretched out into the horizon, and the water was an extremely pleasant light blue color. Twilight could already hear the crashing of the waves from where she was standing, and they hadn't even entered the hotel yet.

"Your bags will be sent right to your rooms." said Rocky, "This is as far as I take you today. I have to go help clean the golf course now."

Rarity told him, "Thank you Rocky, goodbye now." The zebra turned and left them in front of the hotel entrance.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, "Ok, the first thing we do is…" Pinkie Pie ran inside the hotel doors, right up to the front desk, and began pounding away on the call bell with her front hoof.

Another zebra appeared at the desk and asked, "Yes? Do you have reservations miss? Breaking the bell won't get you to your room faster."

"Oh", said Pinkie as she stopped mashing the bell, "we're the group sent by Zecora! Find us on the list please!" The concierge zebra opened a red book in front of him and began leafing through the back of it to find the reservation.

"Ah, I see. You're a miss Twilight Sparkle then?" he asked as he pointed to the reservation.

"No, I'm Pinkie Pie!" replied the pony as she jumped up and tapped on her name in the book.

"Ah yes, Mrs. Pie." Said the Zebra, "well you do have a room for four here. I'll get you your room keys." The others entered the lobby and gave their bags to a bellhop, who threw them on a luggage carrier.

"Pinkie Pie, did you get our reservations in order?" asked Rarity.

"Yup!" cheered Pinkie, "I'm waiting on the guy to come back with the keys." The concierge returned with the keys on necklaces and draped one over each of the four ponies.

"Thank you." said Twilight to the concierge. Finding the elevator, the team went to the third floor to find their rooms.

"Oh this place is so fancy." said Rarity softly, "Even the elevator's air conditioned."

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><p>The lift stopped at the third floor, and the doors opened, letting the ponies out into the maze of hallways typical of hotels. It didn't take them long to find their suites, two large adjacent rooms separated by a single door inside. Twilight unlocked the door of the first room, 341, and pushed it open gently. The hotel room was decorated with pastel light blue walls and white floor boarding. On the walls were various beach-styled knickknacks, including paintings of the surrounding ocean view. For furniture, in addition to two twin beds, there was a white nightstand, a simple table, and a wide dresser with two hand-blown glass lamps on them. The other room in the suite was a mirror-image copy of this one. Pinkie Pie blew past Twilight Sparkle and leapt onto one of the twin beds.<p>

"I call this one!" she chirped quickly.

"Alright Pinkie, you can have that bed. Now girls, how are we going to arrange the rest of us?"

"I'll stay with Pinkie since we're going to be having fun on this trip. Rarity's just going to crab if I stay with her." suggested Rainbow.

"I will not!" protested Rarity, "I just like to sleep at a reasonable hour, that's all."

"Yeah, nine at night." said Rainbow Dash as she shook her head at Rarity's "lame" sleep pattern.

"Ok, that's fine. Rarity and I will stay in the other room." said Twilight calmly. A knock at the door of the suites brought the bellhop with their bags. Rainbow Dash was shot a nasty look when she was the only pony to not give a tip. Oddly, one of the suitcases was much larger than the other.

"Rarity!" Complained Pinkie, "did you over pack again?"

"No." said Rarity, "everything in my bag is completely necessary for this trip." Without saying another word, she dragged her suitcase into the other room.

"She probably packed 50 dresses." whispered Rainbow to Pinkie.

"More like 1 million." giggled Pinkie in response. It took the friends roughly ten minutes or so to move their bags around and get settled in to the comfortable rooms. Once they got unpacked and ready for the week ahead, they needed something to do for the rest of the day.

"Now that we're all ready to go, I suggest we split up and do what we want. Let's choose a meeting spot first so we can get dinner together afterwords." said Twilight to her friends.

"How about we just meet back here in the room at four? That gives us three hours." suggested Rainbow.

"Good idea." agreed Twilight, "that should be simple enough." The team left the rooms, locked the doors, and headed down and out of the hotel to begin their fun on the island. Of course, they all split up to do the various things they wanted to do, not one of the ponies agreed exactly in terms of activity choices. Rarity immediately took a left to head for the resort spa, Twilight hopped on a golf kart to tour the island, Rainbow Dash took off to fly for the extreme sports center, and Pinkie Pie went into hyper-speed to find the sugarcane farm.

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><p>Twilight's golf kart was being driven to the jungles of the island. It joined a small fleet of other tourists eager to see the various sights the jungle had to offer. Twilight had a camera hanging around her neck, and used her magic to operate it. She took pictures of everything, from plants to lizards. No stone went unturned when Twilight wanted to document anything scientifically. This meant the other tourists got annoyed whenever she had to take yet another picture of the newest creature or fern found in the jungles.<p>

"_Eventually, she'll run out of film and we can move on._" Thought the tour guide as Twilight snapped a photo of a snake hanging from a tree. The parade of golf karts continued through the dense jungles, going past a waterfall and a large river that flowed from the peak of the island's mountains down to the shores. It was really a breathtaking sight, the massive crystal waterfall cascading over the rocks below. The visit to the majestic waterfall completed the tour of the jungles, and the golf karts began making their way out.

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><p>Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had flown her way to the extreme sports beach on the island and landed down in the hot sand without thinking.<p>

"Ouch! Hot, hot!" she complained as she burned the bottoms of her legs in the scorching sand. She had forgotten her sandals, and was pretty sure she was going to lose them anyways in her flights around the island. To solve the problem, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to hover a couple of inches off the surface of the beach. A fellow tourist laughed at Rainbow's misery and approached her. The heliotrope-colored unicorn had a red-colored mane, and he was wearing four leather sandals on his hooves to keep the hot sand off of him.

"Sand a little hot for you flygirl?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Yeah, just a bit." Replied Rainbow Dash as she brushed the remaining grains on her legs onto the unicorn.

"There's a surfing competition in an hour, wanna join?" asked the unicorn colt as he pointed to the ponies on surfboards in the ocean.

"Never surfed before. But I bet I could handle it!" she said.

"Not the same thing as flying, Rainbow Dash." taunted the unicorn.

"Hey, how did you know my name?" asked Rainbow suspiciously.

"Who hasn't heard of Rainbow Dash, the fastest Pegasus? Losers, that's who!" said the unicorn. Rainbow Dash laughed, "You're funny. What's your name?"

"I'm Fireball." announced the unicorn, "got the name from the fire-based spells I use." Fireball turned and showed his cutie mark to Rainbow, a trio of torches in a triangular pattern.

"See? I make torches and campfire equipment, earned this when I was little."

"Cool!" said Rainbow Dash. Then she teased him, "But I bet you're so good with fire that you're terrible in the water!"

Fireball smirked, "You'd think so wouldn't you? Alright Rainbow Dash, let's stop talking and hit the surf so I can teach you. Then at the contest, we can see who's the best out there!" Rainbow Dash nodded and followed Fireball out to the surfboards.

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><p>Pinkie Pie's adventure started a little bit inland from the hotel, she was on the quest for something interesting to eat. Piggy behavior tended to be a part of the pony's eating habits, chewing down tons of sugary goods a day. Today, she really wanted to try the raw sugarcane she had talked about with Twilight. Pinkie Pie figured that if she just followed the directions in the pamphlet, she would reach the plantation quickly. After all, every calorie that entered Pinkie Pie's body was burned by her hyperactive running to various locations. Because of this, she was not a fat pony at all despite her massive greed for sugary food. She ran by other tourist ponies, some of the native zebras, and miles of paved road between the resort and the tourist trap town. When she reached the fake town, Pinkie scanned the area quickly. Besides a bunch of tacky-looking buildings that served expensive drinks and shops owned by the locals, there really wasn't much to see in the small village.<p>

Getting lost and desperate, Pinkie Pie hopped up behind a local zebra and asked her, "Excuse me, do you know which way the sugarcane farm is?" The zebra turned to look at Pinkie Pie, and then simply pointed in a direction without saying anything.

"Thanks!" said Pinkie, and then she was off again at warp-speed. "_She seemed a little unfriendly._" Thought Pinkie Pie as she bounded in the direction she had been given "must be the heat!" The wind was rushing through her hair now as she ran along the coastline, and her fluffy tail waved in the breeze. More running finally brought her to the plantation. She stopped with a noise similar to tires screeching and gasped at the sight. There were acres and acres of sugarcane being harvested by zebras. The bamboo-like plants waved gently in the wind and seemed to call Pinkie Pie by name. Pinkie licked her lips at the thought of tasting the succulent plants, but remembered the old advice from Applejack to never bite into crops without asking first, firstly because it was rude, and second of all because pesticides might be in use. Looking around quickly, Pinkie spotted a small shack labeled, "guided tours." She smiled and skipped off to start her journey on getting a taste of fresh sugarcane.

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><p>Back at the resort, Rarity was being pampered like a princess. The hotel's spa was extremely fancy-looking, well-kept tiles of marble on the floor separated only by the baths. The tiles also featured small cutaways so it was possible to order a drink while getting a relaxing bath. In a room to the right of the baths, several massage tables were laid out, and very well qualified ponies or zebras gave the massages. Rarity was on one of these tables receiving a treatment from a strong-legged stallion who pounded on her back with his hooves to help relax the tension. She was lying with her legs stretched in front and back of her, her head resting gently on a pillow at the front of the table. Rarity sighed as the stallion continued his work, which made him smile.<p>

After the massage expert finished his work, he asked her, "Feel better M'am?"

Rarity climbed off the table and answered, "Much better, thank you."

The brown-coated stallion recommended, "Try the spa baths. I'm sure you'll enjoy them."

"I think I just might." replied Rarity with a wink as she walked out the door of the massage room. She made her way to one of the baths and walked slowly into the balmy water. Relaxing again, Rarity placed her head on a towel on the edge of the spa bath. Between her were two other mares enjoying a relaxation bath as well.

"So I heard only half the islanders speak in rhyme." said one of them to the other.

"Yes, but I haven't actually seen any of them." replied the other.

Rarity told them, "Well, I personally know one of the rhyming ones, although she lives back on the mainland."

"Ooh, fascinating." said the first mare, "Tell us more. Is it hard to speak with her?"

"Once you think about what she's saying, it's actually quite easy to talk to her really." answered Rarity while looking at the first mare.

"How interesting. I take it she's friendly though, despite being a native of here?" said the second.

Rarity said, "Quite right, but she does have this one secret thing about her. I'll tell you, it's…"

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><p>On the other side of the island, Pinkie Pie got the strangest mental twitch. It felt like she should be somewhere yelling a single word at somepony, but she dropped it in favor of continuing after the sugarcane. She hopped up the counter of the tour shack and demanded to be a part of the next tour.<p>

"Ok, relax m'am." Laughed the zebra at the desk, "you can join the tour leaving right now." Pinkie Pie eagerly started following the tour group.

"This is our sugarcane plantation here on Quagga island. We produce about 170 tons of pure white sugar here, and also about 62 tons of brown sugar per year. There are other sugarcane plantations on the other islands out here in the sea, but none produce as much sugar as Quagga. Although we make the most sugar, we still grow our sugarcane naturally, without pesticides or any extra growth supplements like fertilizer. 100% natural and organic sugarcane. Do we have any questions so far?"

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof and said, "Ooh! Pick me!"

"Yes, you in the pink." Said the zebra tour guide in her Jamaican accent.

"When do we get to try some sugarcane?" came Pinkie's question.

"In the middle of the tour when we reach the visitor's field." Answered the zebra, "I'm sure you'll all enjoy that stop. Moving on now…"

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><p>Pinkie was getting impatient already because she just had to get her sugarcane early. She grunted and continued to follow the tour group. The field of sugarcane was so tempting, to just dive in and start crunching away at the super-sweet stalks. The tour was led to a field in harvest, where zebras were cutting down the stalks with scythe-like tools. After each stalk was cut, it was placed in a basket, and some of the zebras spent their time bringing full baskets to empty the stalks into storage and then returning the empty baskets to collect more sugarcane.<p>

"The fields are harvested as soon as the sugarcane is tall enough." Spoke the guide, "because we have no extreme seasons here, the cane is grown year round."

"Does the cane grow faster in the summer?" asked one of the ponies.

"Yes, although the cane grows constantly, it grows fastest in the summer and slowest in the winter." answered the guide.

"_Ugh, this is silly!_" thought Pinkie Pie, the boredom was really starting to get to her, as well as her insatiable appetite.

"Here we are, the visitor's field. We'll stop for 15 minutes, then continue to the tropical fruit plantation. Enjoy as much sugarcane as you wish." said the zebra with a smile.

Pinkie Pie cheered, "Yaay!" and then galloped right amongst the tall stalks of sugarcane. She looked around in the crop eagerly for the most delicious plant to eat first. Finding a scrumptious looking one, Pinkie Pie pulled the stalk completely out of the ground with her hooves, and then took a gigantic bite out of the plant without hesitation. The sugary syrup in the cane flowed into her mouth, and she was in ecstasy from the glucose content. "Oh, it's so good." She said as she chewed thoughtfully. Pinkie Pie finished off that plant very quickly, and licked the remaining syrup off her lips. She looked at the other canes around her and said, "Maybe just _one_ more wouldn't hurt." Giggling, she picked another plant and gobbled that one down as well. Of course, with her logic, just one more quickly became two more, which led to three or four, then five, and so on until Pinkie Pie had consumed a total of three dozen complete stalks of sugarcane. When the tour guide called the ponies back to move on to the fruit plantation, Pinkie was pretty much over the top in terms of the sugar in her blood. Although there's really no such thing as a sugar rush, she had just consumed the equivalent of several pounds of table sugar, and felt like running marathons. The tour left for the fruit plantation with a very hyperactive pink pony in tow.

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><p>Learning to surf from Fireball had been an interesting experience for Rainbow Dash. Unlike flying, which really required fast maneuvering, surfing required good balance. She had wiped out multiple times, and the seawater had made her rainbow mane stick to her body. Yet Fireball never laughed at her for her mistakes, and simply kept helping her get ready to compete in the competition. The two ponies sat out in the ocean on their surfboards, waiting for the perfect wave to practice.<p>

"Alright Rainbow" said Fireball, "after this wave, you should be good. I think you've gotten the hang of it."

"Bring it on!" demanded Rainbow Dash of the wave. Unfortunately, even though waves do not take requests, this wave started building up to be very large.

Fireball said, "This one's a big one. Maybe we should wait for another!"

"Come on!" said Rainbow, "Let's do it anyway! It'll be awesome." Rainbow paddled her surfboard into position to catch the wave, and Fireball followed her. The wave started to curve over, and the two ponies were carried up it on their surfboards. Then they stood up and began to surf the large wave. Rainbow Dash felt got herself in place, occasionally even using her wings to maintain balance. Fireball didn't have wings, but his balance was always spot on. They rode on the top of the wave, moving back and forth for a little bit, and then Rainbow Dash got daring. She went over the top and went tubular, going through the tunnel formed by the cascading wave. Fireball followed her in, and they went straight through the pure water tube. Behind them, the portal started to close, threatening to dunk them hard in the water if they couldn't escape in time. But the surfing ponies made it out and the large wave collapsed on the beach with a mighty crash.

"Radical." Said Fireball, relieved they had made it out of the wave without breaking something.

Rainbow Dash laughed and asked, "So, am I ready to enter the contest?"

"Definitely" replied Fireball. The two swam over to the contest area to sign up with the judges.

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><p>The afternoon was a lot of fun for the entire team. Twilight finished her tour, Pinkie Pie stuffed herself, Rarity finished her relaxing spa day, and Rainbow Dash competed in the contest. Once the activities were all over, the ponies went back to their hotel room to discuss what they had done during the day. Twilight was already waiting for the others in the room, reading a book she brought with her on the geology of islands. The door to the room opened, and in walked Rarity.<p>

"You're back." said Twilight as she looked up at her friend, "how was the spa?"

"It's pure heaven." She sighed, "Just look at how clean I am." Twilight put down the book and observed Rarity, who held out a leg.

"I can see myself in your hooves!" exclaimed Twilight, "they really mean business with their hoof polish."

Rarity breathed out in pure bliss, "Yes, the only thing I need to do now is re-apply my eye shadow." The door opened again, this time Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash entered.

"We're back!" said Rainbow as she shut the door behind her. Pinkie Pie looked a bit disgusting, her stomach was distended and there was an apple in her mouth.

Rarity snickered at Pinkie Pie's appearance and jokingly warned her, "Now Pinkie Pie, don't accidentally wander into the hotel's kitchen. With that gut and that apple in your mouth, you might just get cooked up for the luau!" Pinkie swallowed the apple in her mouth and gasped.

Then she said, "Today was so neat! I ate so much sugarcane and fruit, I nearly got sick! But it was all so _gooooooood_, so I kept eating!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and said, "Pinkie Pie, there's a black hole in your stomach, isn't there?"

Twilight giggled and answered, "Well, there's no black hole in there, but it is really large."

Rainbow Dash realized what Twilight was referring to and laughed, "Oh yeah, you would know."

"Firsthand experience." said Twilight with a nod.

"The accident!" chuckled Pinkie Pie.

"What?" asked Rarity, unaware of the past episode.

"Tech can explain it to you when we get back." said Twilight. She then noticed the gold medal hanging around Rainbow's neck.

"Where did you get that medal, Rainbow?" asked Twilight.

"A surfing contest. Ya see, I met this unicorn named Fireball at the beach. He taught me how to surf, and we took first in the competition! Well, it was mostly me, but I let him help." bragged Rainbow.

"Yeah right." said Twilight, aware that Fireball probably scored most of the points.

"So what did you do today?" asked Rainbow of Twilight. In response, she brought out a stack of developed photos from her camera and passed them around.

"I took the tour of the jungles you guys said would be boring. Just look at all the things you get to see. There were waterfalls and cliffs, animals and plants. It was amazing out there." said Twilight as she watched her friend's eyes widen at the pictures.

"With the exception of the hideous snakes, these are beautiful!" marveled Rarity, "Too bad we missed it."

"We still have the rest of the week Rarity, so you can always go tomorrow." comforted Twilight.

Rainbow Dash was eager to do something and said, "Ok, now that we're all here, what are we going to do now?"

"We were supposed to get dinner, but I'm not hungry now." answered Twilight.

"Nor am I, perhaps a walk down the beach would be fun?" suggested Rarity.

* * *

><p>It was agreed that a walk down the long beach was the best choice, so the girls put on 4 sandals apiece and set out for the shoreline. The sand was still blazing hot, and the sun had not yet begun to set. As they walked, they spotted a zebra looking around nervously from inside a bush. The girls watched in interest as the zebra, an obvious hotel employee, disappeared up a trail leading to the peak of the mountains.<p>

"I thought the regular-speaking zebras didn't go this far on the island." Wondered Rainbow aloud.

"Yeah, something's strange here. Let's follow him for fun!" squealed Pinkie as she stomped her legs on the ground.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." cautioned Twilight.

"Aw come on scaredy hooves, let's go!" said Rainbow as she zipped behind the bush. The others followed Rainbow Dash carefully behind the bush and up the trail, where they found the zebra talking to another.

The first zebra said, "Is everything ready?"

"Yeah," replied the other, "we're all go for tonight. The rhymers won't dare put one hoof past the line this week after this show."

Twilight listened to the two zebras talk, and although she wasn't completely familiar with the terms, she was sure "rhymer" was a racist comment.

"I think something's up." She said quietly to Rainbow.

"I think you're right! I say we take 'em and make 'em talk!" she suggested. Rarity watched the zebras, and then let out a muffled yelp as a hoof was placed over her mouth and she was dragged away by an unseen figure. Pinkie Pie heard the yip and span around, only to be ponynapped by another figure behind her. Twilight and Rainbow heard the weird shrieks and turned their heads back to look.

"Where did Rarity and Pinkie Pie go?" asked Twilight.

"No idea, but I heard them scream. Something's wrong here!" whispered Rainbow with warning. Suddenly, a bag was thrown over the two girls, and they screamed in shock. This grabbed the attention of the two zebras talking, and they rushed over to see what was happening. But it was too late, the bag and the girls were gone.

Inside the canvas bag, Twilight screamed, "Help! We're being ponynapped!" A sharp tap on the bag quieted her down.

Rainbow Dash whispered to her, "I bet those two guys talking heard us and sent goons to capture us! We've uncovered a secret plan of some kind."

Twilight whispered back, "If so, we need to escape as soon as possible and go get help to stop it." Their captors dragged them in the bag back to their camp, but from behind a palm tree, a unicorn had spotted their attack.

"_I'll save you Rainbow_." thought Fireball as he shadowed the captors.

* * *

><p>When the bag was opened, Rainbow and Twilight tumbled out onto soft jungle soil. They found themselves in a village of bamboo huts populated with zebras who resembled Zecora more than the hotel employee zebras. They wore gold rings and such, and decorated their homes similarly too, with ornate masks. In addition, many of them worked with cauldrons to make either potions with strange chemical properties or healing salves. The large zebra who had captured Twilight and Rainbow dusted them off with a palm leaf and walked away.<p>

"I don't get it" said Twilight, "we get ponynapped, brought here, and then he simply walks away."

"Please allow me to explain. I promise not to cause you any pain." rhymed a zebra wearing a very decorative hat. This hat was made from wood and jewels, resembling a crown.

"I am king Zephyr, the leader of this town. You can tell because I wear this crown." The zebra continued.

"Ah, finally, a zebra we're familiar with. I'm Twilight Sparkle your majesty, and this is Rainbow Dash." said Twilight.

The king smiled and said, "You ponies to me are of great fame. You know my daughter Zecora by name!"

"Zecora is your daughter?" asked Twilight in surprise, "That means she's…"

"A princess!" exclaimed Rainbow, "wow!"

The king shut his eyes, nodded his head, and then said, "My daughter is doing something grand, leaving her home to study the land."

Rainbow Dash said, "I think he says he misses Zecora because she chose to live on the mainland with us."

Twilight replied, "Yeah, good thinking."

The king pointed to a large bonfire in the middle of the village and said, "Stay with us for tonight. We brought you here in case there's a fight."

"A fight?" asked Twilight, "why?"

Zephyr scratched his striped mane and sighed deeply.

"With rhyme it is difficult for me to explain. You need a zebra who talks in plain." The king led Twilight and Rainbow over to the bonfire and re-united them with Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Sitting next to them was a younger zebra with her hair tied back with a gold band.

"Hello, I'm Yeo." said the little zebra as she introduced herself. "I help interpret messages between the two zebra types on this island."

"It's nice to meet you." Said Twilight, "But I have to ask why your king ponynapped us and brought us here."

"king Zephyr wanted to get you away from those hotel zebras before they discovered you and put you in prison." explained Yeo.

Pinkie Pie asked, "But why would they toss us in jail? It's not wrong to hear them talk about stuff?"

"Their plans are untrustworthy and illegal, pink one." said Yeo.

Rarity got up from the fire and walked over to Rainbow and Twilight.

"Being abducted nearly messed up my spa day. But I'm glad to see you two are alright." She said with relief. Now what was this about illegal plans?"

Yeo explained, "The zebras you see at the hotel are native zebras who broke away from our tribe. They abandoned our traditions in favor of money and power. Now, they have made it illegal for any zebras who speak in rhyme to cross into the half of the island where zebras speak "plain". That's what the tribe calls what you speak."

Pinkie Pie shouted with anger, "They can't do that, it's not fair! This is your island too!"

Yeo said sadly, "I know, but they think they own the island now. Now don't get us wrong, we don't hate visitors, but the plain speakers don't like us. King Zephyr wants to send out a war party to make the plain speakers and the tourists leave. It'll ruin the island's beauty for you ponies if that happens."

"That must be the fight the king's talking about!" figured Rainbow.

Yeo nodded and continued, "The only problem is that I'm sure the hotel ponies are up to something to keep our freedom fight from happening at all. They drew a line on the island and said if we crossed that line, the volcano gods would get angry with us."

"Psychological tricks" muttered Twilight.

"There aren't lots of texts on volcano gods, but it's enough to make the less educated tribe zebras worry." said Yeo, "and tonight, many of us crossed the white lines right in front of the hotel owners."

Twilight told Yeo, "We heard two plain speaking zebras say they would do something tonight to make sure you stayed on this half of the island. I'm sure they will try something, but I'm not sure what it is." Just then, an explosion was heard in the distance. Screaming came from the villagers, and they were pointing up at the peak of the island mountain. The volcano was starting to leak lava down the side of it.

"I think that's the plan." said Pinkie dumbly, pointing at the lava flow.

Yeo shrieked, "Oh no, what if the plain speakers were right and the volcano can destroy us?"

Twilight patted her head with a hoof and said, "Don't worry, the volcano can't wipe out your people. It's a shield volcano."

"A what?" asked Rarity.

She took a breath and explained, "A shield volcano, it's in my geology book. They're flatter volcanoes that build up islands through slow lava flows. They don't erupt explosively and dangerously like others, they just make islands like this one."

"But my people don't know that!" said Yeo in distress, "they're going to think the volcano gods are real!" Four strong male zebras approached them and started to talk in rhyme about a plan to stop the volcano.

As they stared at them, Rarity asked with fear, "Do you think they blame us, the tourists, for this?"

The zebras pinned them all down as Yeo shrieked, "No, stop! It's not their fault!" A gyser of flame went over the heads of the four muscular zebras. Fireball appeared with his horn glowing a bright red.

"Let them go!" he demanded, shooting another stream of flame from his horn. The zebras released the ponies and slowly backed off, then went for their huts in panic. Fireball took a deep breath and let his horn stop glowing.

"Fireball!" said Rainbow Dash smoothly, enjoying Fireball's daring display.

"Rainbow Dash!" said Fireball happily as he ran up to her.

Then, noticing Rainbow Dash's wings perked up in the air, Fireball coughed and asked slyly, "Rainbow, are you ready to fly away, or are you just happy to see me?" Rainbow blushed and tucked her wings back against her side.

"Woof!" whispered Rarity to Twilight.

Fireball said in his surfer voice, "Alright ladies, I've come to rescue you from these zebras."

He then pushed Yeo aside and said, "Let's go."

"Hold on." said Twilight, "The real zebras who are a threat are the hotel workers."

"What?" asked Fireball in confusion. Twilight explained the story again to Fireball, not missing any details.

"Woah." said Fireball, "So the hotel managers are evil? Dang."

"Well what do we do about it? The zebras here deserve to go where they want!" asked Pinkie Pie.

Fireball answered, "I saw some of the hotel dudes in a cave on the mountain earlier yesterday, if I go get some of my torches, I might be able to get us through the dark. Hang on." Fireball left to go get his supplies to enter the cave. As soon as he left though, the four muscular zebras returned and promptly grabbed the friends again.

"My hero." said Rainbow sarcastically as they were dragged into the village, with Yeo screaming at the males all the way.

* * *

><p>They were brought before the priestess of the village, who wore the most gold rings of any of the zebras, as well as several feathers in her mane.<p>

"What shall we do to appease the plain talkers' gods? Offer them gold or cocoa bean pods?" asked the zebra next to her. The priestess shook her head and looked in a primitive book.

Addressing the crowd of frightened villagers, she said, "The only thing that will suffice is if we make a sacrifice."

"Shoot." Whispered Twilight, knowing what was coming.

"What kind of sacrifice shall we toss into the lava for the volcano boss?" asked a tribesman. The priestess explained, "The only offer that will end our strife, is to give the gods a virgin's life."

"You have heard the priestess, she speaks only true. Nothing but the sacrifice of a virgin will do." Said the priestess' assistant.

The zebras then tossed the four ponies in front of the priestess to let her decide who to throw into the volcano.

"I will choose only a virgin to throw within." said the priestess.

Rarity stared knowingly at Rainbow Dash.

"_HEY_!" protested Rainbow, "you're the one who's always going on about waiting for 'him' Rarity, I heard you say that when we went to the gala!" Rarity sat down, it was the truth, she had been found out.

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight Sparkle and said quickly, "At least Twilight's safe!"

Twilight blushed while looking back and forth, "Just what do you mean by that, Rainbow?"

She coughed and said quickly, "Techorse."

Twilight shouted at her, "You think just because he and I are in love that..."

"Silence!" shouted the priestess, "It doesn't matter what you think, now how about the one in pink?"

Pinkie Pie was the only one left for the test. Unless she had "proof" of some kind, she would be tossed into the lava as well.

"Well, Pinkie, I guess that leaves you." said Rarity sadly, "the rest of us are being thrown into the volcano."

Pinkie Pie looked at her friends' sad expressions. No matter what was true about her, Pinkie knew she couldn't let one of her friends get thrown into lava without her name being in the roulette.

So she closed her eyes and said bravely, "I'm a virgin too. We all are." The zebra priestess looked over the four friends and tried to decide which to sacrifice. A large explosion came from the volcano, and more lava began to flow down the side.

The priestess saw this and declared, "Based on the increasing wrath, all four shall take a lava bath."

"Oh no." said Twilight as they were picked up again and dragged. The ponies were taken to a decorator who wrapped them up in ropes made of vines, then placed flowers all over the girls to make them more pleasing sacrifices.

"I don't want to be sacrificed!" bawled Rarity, letting tears stream all over the place.

"If only Fireball hadn't left!" complained Rainbow, "We wouldn't be in this mess. His fire magic could have stopped this whole thing!"

Hearing this made the metaphorical light bulb came on over Twilight's head. Working with her magic, Twilight shot a bolt of energy and destroyed a palm tree. This caused the villagers to panic, and they scattered to avoid the wooden debris.

"I am a goddess!" declared Twilight, "untie me and my friends or I shall cause more harm to you than the volcano gods!"

The zebras complied and untied the ponies. They fell on the ground before them and begged forgiveness.

"I was just kidding." said Twilight, "but now that you've come to your senses and have decided not to not throw us in lava, maybe we can work something better out."

One of the zebras asked, "But what can we say if a sacrifice isn't the way?"

Twilight answered, "We're going up the mountain to investigate the volcano. We'll stop the eruption."

* * *

><p>The team left up the mountain, saying goodbye to Yeo and warning her not to follow them. They continued up the mountain, passing one of the flows of lava. Rainbow Dash simply flew over the narrow river, but the others would have to find another way to cross.<p>

"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie said in wonder as she looked at the orange molten rock.

"Don't touch it Pinkie, it's not hot spaghetti sauce." warned Twilight, "that lava's thousands of degrees." Pinkie drew her hoof away from touching the lava.

"Ok, so how do we cross?" asked Rarity.

Twilight saw a boulder overhanging the cliff pass and said, "We could drop the boulder into the flow and divert it, then climb over the top. We wouldn't have long though." Rarity and Twilight concentrated on the rock and working together with magic, dropped it down off the ledge. They jumped back to avoid getting the splash of molten rock on them. Then, the three ponies jumped on the boulder and leapt to the other side with no problem. After that, getting up the volcano was easy, and soon they were overlooking the caldera. A very small lava lake was bubbling in the center, not too large for the size of the volcano. The lake occasionally rose and spilled more lava over the edge, drawing two lines of lava out.

"Wait a minute." said Twilight, "the volcano's been cut, see the v-shaped marks?"

"Yeah." Said Rainbow, "what does it mean?"

"It means the lava is being diverted in those directions on purpose. I think the hotel zebras are trying to literally divide the island with permanent lava flows!"

Pinkie Pie pointed at a hole in the caldera with a safety rail coming from it and said, "I see a cave, I see a cave, follow me!" Pinkie took off in a hurry down the caldera and into the hole.

* * *

><p>The others followed her into the hole and wandered into a pony-made cavern. Inside was a gigantic machine resembling a pile driver construction rig. A group of zebras was working with the machine, and toasting each other on their success.<p>

The leader of the zebras said, "My fellow zebras, tonight the ryhmers get cut off by the lava. This volcano's normally dormant, but thanks to your work, we can use it to keep our resorts rhyme free!"

The other zebras cheered. Twilight wanted a better look at the leader and peeked a little more from behind the rock she and her friends were hiding behind. To her horror, the leader was wearing a baseball cap.

"Rocky!" she shouted, "You're behind this?"

Rocky looked at the ponies and said, "Oh hello girls. Good to see you again."

He motioned to the other zebras to prepare to capture them. The four ponies confronted the dozen zebras and Rocky. As they prepared to face off, the machine thumped its metal bar against the wall of the cavern, causing the lava lake outside to rise and spill more lava to divide the island.

"Well girls, you learned how we're gonna keep our resort rhyme-free." said Rocky. "Sadly, I know you report to princess Celestia, and she'd hate our little plan. So you won't be leaving."

Rocky motioned to his minions, who assembled to beat up Twilight and company.

The zebra then laughed and said, "Earlier, a unicorn came and tried to stop us too. Stupid mon got himself all tied up." Rocky pointed to the corner, where Fireball was tied and gagged.

"Fireball!" shouted Rainbow Dash, "when I get my hooves on you Rocky, you'll be sorry!"

Rocky laughed, "Just try. In minutes there will be so much lava, the rhymers will never cross into our territory again!" Then the battle began, the minions charged at the four ponies. Twilight opened up with a bright purple magic missile, knocking two of the zebras down and out in a blast of energy. A worker reached Pinkie Pie's position and swung at her with a hoof. Pinkie Pie ducked, blew a raspberry at the worker, then jumped on his head and off into the crowd of bad guys. Rainbow Dash started flying circles, causing rapid air circulation that confused three of the hotel staff. Rarity ran into the middle of this and gave each of them a mighty whack with her hooves, bringing them out of the action as well.

Twilight snuck around the fight and used her magic to untie the ropes around Fireball and remove the cloth shoved in his mouth. Fireball coughed and thanked her for untying him. One of the zebra minions had crept up behind Twilight with a sharp fragment of volcano obsidian.

"Look out behind you!" said Fireball. The zebra raised the stone, prepared to strike, but was stopped by a blast of flame from Fireball's horn. The burned zebra coughed on the soot, and fell down with a blackened face.

"Thanks, you saved me too." said Twilight, looking at the sharp rock that nearly went in her back. Fireball turned on the remaining zebra minions and lit a ring of fire around them, making them unable to move. Eventually they passed out from the heat and the fear of being surrounded by flames. Fireball stopped the ring, and surveyed the battle scene. It was over, 12 zebra minions were unconscious on the ground, leaving Rocky looking with his mouth drooped open. Twilight began to charge up her horn to smite him with either a bolt or a magic missile.

"Alright Rocky, your turn." she said.

Rocky began to back up towards the artificial eruption machine and looked back and forth for an escape. Rainbow Dash grabbed the ropes that were around Fireball previously and flew around the minions a couple of times, tying them up in a neat bundle.

"It's over boy, give up." encouraged Rarity. Rocky ran over to the machine, and in a last ditch attempt to win the encounter, slammed a button to make the machine go into overdrive.

"Even if I lose" he said, "the rhymers will never set foot on my resort again!"

Twilight fired a bolt at him, but Rocky ducked it, and it splashed harmlessly on the machine, which was now pounding away.

A voice called out, "Your resort, Rocky?" A very well dressed zebra wearing a white suit walked into the cave.

"Oh hey boss." said Rocky very nervously.

"Rocky, I was gone for one month and already there's chaos about on my resort. Every pony and zebra is in a fuss over this. You can't even manage my employees, they're all tied up over there!"

Rocky lowered his head and took his baseball cap off. It was over now.

"Wait, who are you?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The well dressed zebra replied, "Why m'am, I'm Mr. Zanders. I'm the actual owner of this resort, and Rocky here is my nephew. You see, my brother stayed here on the island as a kid while I went to the mainland. When I returned, we built the resort together as a way for ponies to learn about zebra culture."

"Mr. Zanders, Rocky here is using this machine to make the volcano erupt artificially." explained Twilight, "he's trying to make the zebras who still speak in rhyme stay off the resort."

"Is this so?" asked Zanders of Rocky. Rocky mumbled a humble yes and shut off the eruption machine.

Zanders walked over to his nephew and said sternly, "I trusted you to take care of the resort while I was gone. I never said to keep our brothers who speak in rhyme off the resort. Do you understand how wrong it is what you're doing?" Rocky looked away from his uncle.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" demanded Zanders. Rocky looked at the zebra but kept backing off from his uncle.

"As punishment for trying such a horrible thing, as soon as the lava cools, you and your team are going out there with jackhammers to break all that rock so that the tribe members can see the other half of their island. All of you won't get your jobs back until the last scrap of rock is broken!"

Uncle Zanders then turned to the ponies and apologized, "I'm sorry for my nephew's terrible behavior. I also plan to apologize to the zebra tribe, but before I do, is there anything I can do to fix your ruined vacation?"

Twilight was about to turn down the offer for the group, but predictably, Rainbow Dash barged in and said, "Well, there is one thing!"

* * *

><p>Each friend got their request; Fireball was upgraded to a suite in the hotel so he and Rainbow Dash could meet each other and go surfing every day for the rest of the vacation. Pinkie Pie received an infinite supply of sugarcane, even getting to pack stalks in her bag to take back home. Rarity got a free pass for the spa for the entire week, rather than just that day. Twilight got tickets to tour the rest of the island, and Rainbow Dash got a surfboard to take back with her to use at the beaches on the mainland. After they got their gifts from Zanders, the friends went and partied with the zebra tribe, who were now free to visit the resort grounds anytime they wanted, even being offered sugarcane and fruit in exchange for telling tourists about zebra tradition. When the week drew to a close and they sailed back for Ponyville, they all agreed that it was the best vacation they'd had in a long time, despite nearly being thrown into a volcano.<p>

The end


End file.
